Kidnapping of a well-protected diplomat marks a new departure for the hostage-takers in Iraq (AFP)

BAGHDAD , July 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The lingering hostage crisis in Iraq deepened Friday, July 23, after an armed group kidnapped an Egyptian diplomat, prompting Cairo to swear off sending troops to Iraq .

"We are involved in intense talks to try to secure his release," a source at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad told Reuters, referring to Mohamed Mamdouh Qutb, the number three in the mission, who was abducted after Friday prayers.

"We were so shocked. He's a very decent and religious man," added the source, who asked not to be identified.

The kidnapping of a well-protected diplomat marks a new departure for hostage-takers in war-torn Iraq .

Qutb, in his fifties, was shown sitting in front of six masked and armed men from a group calling itself the "Lions of God Battalions in Iraq " in a tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera news channel Friday evening.

"The group said the abduction was in response to comments by Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif that Cairo was ready to offer its security experience to the interim Iraqi government," the Arabic television said.

'Absolutely Not'

"Egypt sending any forces or military personnel to Iraq was not a matter that has been proposed at all," said Abul Gheit

But shortly after the kidnap announcement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit made it clear that his country was absolutely not considering sending troops to Iraq .

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi visited Cairo last week and asked Egypt to help convince Arab and Muslim countries to deploy troops in Iraq and help protect the UN mission in the country.

But Egyptian officials have stressed that no deal was struck to deploy military forces, according to the BBC News Online Saturday.

" Egypt sending any forces or military personnel to Iraq was not a matter that has been proposed at all," the BBC quoted Abul Gheit as telling Egypt 's official news agency MENA.

Qutb's abduction came four days after he was widely photographed celebrating the release of an Egyptian truck driver kidnapped in Iraq earlier this month.

He was freed after his Saudi Arabian employer promised to pull out of Iraq .

Armed groups in Iraq , carrying various names, have seized dozens of foreign workers since April to push demands for foreign troops or foreign companies to leave the country.

In another hostage standoff, a group which has threatened to behead seven foreign captives issued a new 48-hour deadline to their Kuwaiti company demanding the release of Iraqi prisoners in Kuwaiti and US jails, according to Reuters.

Al-Jazeera showed a video tape of a masked man from the group reading a statement in front of the seven men - three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian.

"(The group) said the company must pay compensation to the families of the dead in Fallujah and Iraqi prisoners in American and Kuwait jails should be released," Al-Jazeera said.

US strikes on Fallujah over the past month have killed about scores of people and demolished tens of houses.

The hostages' employer, the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, said earlier it would not meet the kidnappers' original demand that the firm cease operations in Iraq .

India , Kenya and Egypt are not part of US-led forces but some of their nationals work as drivers and contractors.

Last week the Philippines pulled its 51 troops out of Iraq a month early to meet hostage-taker demands and spare the life of a Filipino truck driver.